The Republican journal. [volume] (Belfast, Me.) 1829-current, 1887-03-03
Killed bv Tobacco.

Mr.. 7. h. Terry, who writes so hclpfuIly of
many topics relating to the farm, will be ell
deared still more to many Tribune readers
When they learn that he is out>poken against
What he characteriZe> as .'the filthy and dis
gushing as well as expensive tobacco habit"
In letter to 'G!eaning>" our Ohio friend and
valued contributor relates some facts which
should cause devotees of the weed-pro,l,,ccrs
and consumers alike--to count the fatal cost of
their Indulgence, not only as it relates to
worldly welfare but to life itself. First take
this apt illustration of Il condition lameptabIy
common:
Il called on family not long since who are
SAID to be very much in need of help. They
had not any oil to burn, but the man kept up
his steady spit, spit, spit as long as i STAYED
1t was, perhaps, the poorest home | was ever
IN, but not so poor but there is money for
tobacco. know another poor man about sixty
years Old. lie has always been a faithful. hard
working man; but from boyhood he has drank.
and used tobacco steadily. He is not drunk
ard but a steady drinker. He has quite a family:
nice Wife; but the house or shelter they have
lived IN Tor twenty years is but little better
than outdoors. He told me himself that in
very cold nights one of them had to sit M and
keep putting in wood while the others Slept.
and that with their beds up close to the fire |
think they usually get enough to eat. but that
Is all. The rest goes to the saloon. | carefully
inquired up the other day from statements made
by the man himself, and found that the money
he had paid for tobacco and liquor, saved and
kept at interest, would to-day buy him nv
farm and home. Now. it's a question how
much charity we owe such men. | saved my
money and bought a home; they squandered
theirs and have nothing"
Reference is made to the doublv injurious
effect of the ''vile STUFF upon children. many
OF whom. especially in towns, begin the habit
when hardly beyond the spanking age. Mr..
Terry urges passage of a United States law for
bidding tobacco to all minors, and declares that
tne men VINO chew or smoke should not marry
for sufficient reason which the appended
statement should duly impress:
Not long since l was walking in the city
with celebrated physician. As we passed /;
house, surrounded with every evidence of
wealth and refinement, he spoke: i have a
patient in there, an doized wife. who is diving.
and beyond all help, and none of them know
what is the matter with her, and still her his
band mas killed her. why DOCTOR saws I.
what do you mean" Il mean Just this,' he
says; her husband is just literally stepped in
tobacco until the insensble perspiration from
his body has become a deadly poison. and his
wife has absorbed enough of this, and had be-
fore was called in. that she will de-
Have YOU told them' No; what good? It
would only add to their misery now But.
doctor, are you sure" Yes; have seen such
things before. Some constitutions can bear
the poison and some cannot. Why, just to give
you an idea, l saw this experiment tried,
among others, at an establishment where they
treat patients for the cure of the tobacco habit
A man just brought in was washed as clean as
soap and water could make him, and then some
flies were allowed to aight on him. In five
minutes by the watch they We're dead. There
was poison enough in the perspiration that
came out of a man washed as clean as possible
to kill them. You can imagine what it would
he when he wasn't washed, perhaps, to spend
hours each day in a warm bed with him. This
was all new to me and l was completely dumb
founded. don't use tobacco, thank God, an